take your answer off the air...

Talker's MagazineThe quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).

The AdvocateNo, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.

Media MattersDocumentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.

Orcinushome of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups

Hominid Views"People, politics, science, and whatnot"
Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.

Jesus' General An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.

Irrational Public Radio "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."

The Moderate VoiceThe voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.

News Hounds Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.

HistoryLinkFun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.

right-wing blogs we like

The Reagan WingHearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.

August 09, 2007

The Spring '07 Arbitron ratings book in the vital 25-54 demo for the Seattle market are in. And yikes!

~ Liberal talk KPTK is tanking across the board- down 66% overall.

Stephanie Miller (6-9a) lost 40%; Thom Hartmann (9a-12p) plunged 63%; Ed Shultz is in the bucket 68%; our Rachel Maddow is down 50%, and Randy Rhodes lost 33% of her audience. The only host who got over 1% of the audience was Mike Malloy- and even he dove 64%. Has everyone taken to reading blogs?
&amp;lt;a href=&amp;quot;http://www.statcounter.com/&amp;quot; target=&amp;quot;_blank&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;img&amp;nbsp; src=&amp;quot;http://c6.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=676487&amp;amp;amp;java=0&amp;amp;amp;security=79c2dfb8&amp;amp;amp;invisible=1&amp;quot; alt=&amp;quot;counter stats&amp;quot; border=&amp;quot;0&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

~ Konservative KVI: dead man talking between 9a and 6p.

KVI is down 14% overall; Kirby Wilbur (5a-9p) gained
a few points but his is the brightest spot in the dim dayparts with a
middling 2.6 share. It goes down from there: the Great White Hopes- the
The Commentators (John Carlson & Ken Schram, 9a-12p) took another dive- down 45%. GOP Designated Liar Sean Hannity (12-3p) lost 30% pulling a miserable 1.6 share. The Bad Lieutenant Bryan Suits
(3-6p) gained slightly, but his share, while barely beating Hannity
still stinks- especially in the important afternoon drive. The
insufferable Mark Levin (6-7p) is another ray of light for KVI- he gained 47%, but he's only on for an hour. Coast to Coast with George Noorydominates the talk market nights; but the big winner for KVI is Larry Elder who made an 818% jump and kicked everybody's ass, unfortunately, between 3 and 4am. (we hear it's a heckuva show though!)

~ KIRO saw some improvement: up overall 22%- KPTK's losses are their gains...

The Morning News stayed about the same with a slight drop; Dave Ross, (9a-12p) gained some 35% , but has as yet not regained his stature of old (Big Pants (KTTH) beats him soundly. Ron Reagan,
(12-1p) who left the air this week, ironically gained 9% in the
prelapsarian ratings, and had a respectable 3.5 share. Armageddon is
surely nigh: Dori Monson (1-4p) jumped up 70% pulling higher than Dave Ross for the first time in memory and punking his rival neocon, Michael Medved over on KTTK. Tabloid talk with Ron & Don
(4-7p) lost 15% this timeand we can only hope their weekdaily hoopah
about celebrity toilet habits and pets of the stars will continue to
falter. NY Vinnie's now defunct Sportstalk, fell precipitously from its perch in the basement, but we won't speak ill of the dead. Frank "Shudder" Shiers
improved 750% between 9p-12a, and 125% between 12-1. That's what it
says right here on this here paper, but our guy says: "Don't read too
much into that- he was coming in from a very low number last time. Bet
it's a fluke, especially with the M's season." The Dave Ross re-runs might should be reconsidered: they pull a perfect 0.0! (not often you see perfection).

~ KTTH, "The Truth" (Pravda) improved overall by 47%!

The KTTH day starts with those over-caffeinated choirboyz Sytman & Boze whose show (5-9a) jumped up out of the ditch by 60%! Thats good: but Kirby, KOMO and KIRO news still beats them. Big Pants,
who's rollercoastered in the last couple of years, rules the talk radio
morning again, having gained 32%. He's a good lead-in for Michael Medved
whose audience has improved in this book by 25%. Monson's kicking his
ass, but he blows out Hannity (so to speak) and that's a good thing. Ed Schultz might be helped by the exiting Reagan.

~ KOMO-AM is up overall by 11%.

We have no breakouts for KOMO, though we'd really like to see what they
do in the early mornings if someone would like to send us the
numbers... It's notable (to us anyway) that KOMO is # 2 in the 12+
ratings for the first time in our lifetime. (We never saw even KIRO get
any higher than 3rd place back in the day).
&amp;lt;a href=&amp;quot;http://www.statcounter.com/&amp;quot; target=&amp;quot;_blank&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;img&amp;nbsp; src=&amp;quot;http://c6.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=676487&amp;amp;amp;java=0&amp;amp;amp;security=79c2dfb8&amp;amp;amp;invisible=1&amp;quot; alt=&amp;quot;counter stats&amp;quot; border=&amp;quot;0&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

There may be a message here that is NOT about lib vs con but about LOCAL content vs. SHRILL hype.

All of the gains Mike mentions are by people with a strong Seattle flavor. Hannity and KPTK share a kabuki/vaudeville like approach that may becoming passe. Dori, Medved, Ross, and yes Goldie, share localness, complexity of ideas, and manners.

There is one other thing, a simple thing, ALL the successful names share .... BREADTH. Take Medeved (please), he riffs about culture and movies. Listening to Ross or Dori is going to Dinner with an old friend ... Bush/Gregoire is only one topic.

I mention this because I am disappointed that KIRO did not choose to increase Goldy's role. I think I know why. I think they (and then listeners) see him only through the lens of Goldy's political activism.

So, from my extensive demographic analysis of our household of two, I would like to suggest that Goldy enrich his air time by exploring the broader context of Seattle, still liberal but not limited to elective office.

I agree. That is exactly my point. The wonkish discussions of how any folks fro Dehli might vote for Darcey can get tedious. BUT, Goldy is a LOT more interesting a person than that and liberal issues are not limitted of who gets elected.

WADR SJ, reading your 'Free Advice' piece on your blog is almost as hard as listening to Goldie's voice (you need an editor dude).
But content is astute and very insightful (like I previously said)- truly believe you're on to something. :o)

Ditto on Goldy's voice. I know he considers himself a blogger rather than a radio person, and he proves it every time he opens his mouth. Pleeeeease do something about your voice! Try really hard to not sound like a whiny adolescent. Voice lessons would advance your career.

When you look at the ratings in this town, it's essential to include the noncommercial stations. Based on the numbers at http://www.radioandrecords.com/ RRRatings and http://www.rrconline.org/arbitron/, KUOW (4.9 share) is kicking everybody else's butt. That's where the audience has gone -- and based on their new long-form news at 6:00 pm, KIRO knows it.

Another odd item in the new book is the HUGE jump in the KCMS numbers: from #12 to #3. No, it's not talk radio, but that's a really substantial jump for a Christian Music niche station; I have to believe that it's a temporary blip, based on a bad sample. Which leads me to wonder how that same sample skews for KIRO and the other talk stations.

Arbitron defines "AQH (Average Quarter Hour) Share" as "the percentage of those listening to radio in [the metro area] who are listening to a particular radio station" based on "the average number of persons listening to a particular station during a 15-minute period."

In other words, KIRO's 3.9 share means that Arbitron estimates that 3.9% of the people listening to radio in Metro Seattle (for at least five minutes)during an average quarter hour are listening to KIRO.

That should mean that the total of all shares (including the non-comms) ought to equal 100%. If it does not, I can't tell you why not -- I'm just reading the published numbers.

Michael Savage was glossed over - heard that he rules the airwaves between 3 and 6PM on KXL in Portland. I know that is hard for a number of you to take. Portland is almost as liberal/progressive as Seattle. Does anyone know how Tom Leykis did ?

Any one catch Hizzoner sitting in for DR today. He wasn't too bad actually; not a bad voice for radio. [Needed to figure out how to get the whistling nose sound out of his discussion with Bob Redford, tho] :o)

These ratings fluctuations are strange. They show changes anywhere from 35% to 750% while the content and style of the shows haven't changed much at all, if at all. I can only guess that the rise and fall of ratings has more to do with social interests at any moment. Air America is even lamer than usual when politics are at a stand still.

KS: Savage traditionally has not done very well in Seattle. In this book, it is hard to figure how he did because his hours were changed on KTTH to make way for Glenn Beck. We won't know til next book how either one of them are doing here.

The sample size for the Seattle market is less than 2000 people, and they're supposed to go to different people every quarter.

That's statistically valid, but it does mean that each share point (0.1 share)represents fewer than two actual humans (allowing for people whose radios are turned off). So if, by chance, a sample gets a disproportionate number of, say, Christian music fans, KCMS will get a one-time bump in their share. If the sample skews to big-band fans, KIXI's numbers would jump.

So the fluctuations in a single book don't really mean anything, in spite of what the sales folks will tell you. Looking at trends over two, three or more ratings periods is a lot more useful.

Before too many of you get a woody over the idea that somehow the liberal voice is in the minority, today in the Economist :

* 40% of Republicans think that Democrats will win the next presidential election, compared with only 12% of Democrats who think the reverse
* Q2 money to the Democratic presidential contenders nearly doubled that given to the Republican contenders
* The DSCC and D-Trip are vastly outraising the NRSC and NRCC
* 61% of Democrats are happy with our choices of candidates, while only 36% of Republicans can say the same
* Young voters and Hispanic voters are trending overwhelmingly Democratic
* Registered Democrats and Democratic-leaners are now 50% of the population, while registered Republicans and Republican-leaners only comprise 35%--a strong swing from an equal 43%-43% tie in 2002.

As anyone who has read the magazine knows, the editorial staff of The Economist is certainly no friend to Democrats, favoring a decidedly corporatist agenda valuing "free trade over "fair trade" and a foreign policy usually at odds with progressive values. As a result, however, they find themselves increasingly at odds with the social conservatives who have all but taken over the Republican party's activist base.

We readily admit liberal radio doesn't work. Hell, we know most liberals have better things to do than be devoted to talk radio like a lot of right-wing old folks and paranoid shut-ins who listen while they polish their firearms. However, our sources tell us that the conservatives' domination of the airwaves didn't help them in the 2006 election. We can't wait to see what happens in 2008.

I thought the difference was that Conservatives listen to to talk radio while in their cars on the way to and from work & liberals don't really go to work. It's hard to hear the radio when riding your Vespa which really shouldn't be done in Berkenstocks anyway... think safety people!

It'd be interesting -- if it's available -- to find out what satellite penetration is in the Seattle market for XM and Sirius, what their specific channel or station category listenership is, and see if there's any correlation with overall gains or losses. But I haven't seen that kind of data released.

Coiler has lots and lots of radios that he uses to thrash various idiots around town. He takes Mr. T with him to help. It is hi-larious.

I, myself, am waiting to see who ends up owning the satellite franchise when the dust settles before I invest in anything. Right now, I dont see a whole lot on either Sirius or XMs schedule that thrills me. When the commercials come on, I hit the CD button for a couple of minutes.

The PNW portal is open again?? Izzy will just be back to ruin things again.

I don't think it is a surprise that liberal talk is tanking. It's never been a bastion of support among liberal leaning people. We can argue the wherefores and whys of this but at the end of the day you don't find too many working people who have the luxury to listen to talk radio (left or right) unless they have a job that allows such. Hell, I haven't been able to listen to talk radio save on podcasts the last few weeks due to my work + family schedule.

However, to our right wing posters...I suggest that you bone up on your statistics...what age and demographic listen to right wingnut radio? Who watches Faux News? (I'll save you the trouble it is people who have time to spare).

Sadly for right wing types, you guys just keep on believing that anyone who is a left-leaning voter/commenter is some out of work slob or a college kid wearing a Che Guevara tee-shirt. Guess again. We are America. Or of course you can keep denying this fact and keep losing elections.

Its obvious why Liberal Radio is failing, anyone with common sense will tell you that listeners get tired of listening to the same lies over and over again. Liberal radio listeners were being told over and over that poll after poll said 70 percent of the nation were against this war and they needed to go out in the streets and protest, yet, when a protest was held nobody showed up. Where are the 70 percent? They ask themselves. They felt both foolish and betrayed.

Malloy listeners constantly hearing that Bush is ruining America, yet months later the guy has a kid. Guess Bush isn't ruining America after all if you are going to bring a kid into this world while your country is being ran into the ground, what type a father would do that to their own kid. Again the listeners felt foolish and betrayed.

And of course you have Randi, got out of the Air Force on a Waiver, but blast Bush for doing the same thing. Again, the listeners after learning this felt foolish and betrayed.

These are just a few of the lies constantly being told on Liberal radio. Those that still listen to Liberal radio are just hanging on to a faint ray of light at the opening of their cave but that light will eventually flicker out like the Joanie's of the Jurasic period.

Cow
"However, to our right wing posters... watches Faux News? (I'll save you the trouble it is people who have time to spare).

Sadly for right wing types....keep losing elections."

The same can be said right back at you Cow. It's true that Fox has an older demographic that will die off. Of course, everyday we all get a little older and many -not all- people become more conservative as they get older so the Fox News of this world may do fine. Especially with the entire population becoming more and more a gray one. So that business model may work out well.

What I do find true is that as many -not all- of these people get in the workplace, get married, pay taxes, etc. and they start to challange the assumptions that they had in college. None of the 20 somethings I work with listen to talk radio.

in regards to elections, last time I checked "Senator" Lamont and "Congresswoman" Burner hadn't been voting in Congress. 2006 was a good year for Democrats -and should have been given the unpopularity of the war and being a 6th year of an administration- many of those Dems won in more conservative candidates. Can you say, Rahm Emanuel? But Cow, lets see how the general election for President in 08 plays out. After Hillary gets the Dem Nomination she'll be moving to the center and well see how the activist -the ones that do the work in the Dem Party feel about that. I know the Daily Kos says it is about electing Democrats but we will see if the base goes in lockstep with the Kos or wants more. You may see a repeat of the 68 election: Unpopular war, status quo politco's as Nominee of the party then Humphrey/now Clinton, and an angry base feeling betrayed. How'd that work out?

And for those that take a shot at Steven because he supports the war, he already served his country. For those that are against the war, what exactly have you done to end the war aside from some annonymous postings to message boards, the usual 'bush lied/kids died" bumper sticker, or just maybe a few hours of marching on a weekend. Cindy Sheehan made some great points on that subject a few months ago when being attacked for daring to hold the Dem party accountable.

nevetS: Malloy listeners constantly hearing that Bush is ruining America, yet months later the guy has a kid. . .

Did Mike get a goat?

Posted by: Duffman | August 11, 2007 at 01:33 AM

Yet another imposter posting. I would ask whoever is posting as me to please cease and desist. This is going about as low as one can to 'get at somebody' and I would really appreciate if you would stop. Bla'M if you could somehow 'emphasize' my request in this regard I'd be thankful. :o)

ph(J)oanie sez
"too much work! The right would rather sit back and be told. . . liberals, on the other hand, fact check the fact checker."

yep, just like that whole phony dan rather/mary mapes story on bush's national guard fell apart. you remember that dont you? it led to mapes being canned and hastened rather's departure. all of that 'fact checking' came from the right. ph(J)oanie, its been blogs of the left and the right have done the public a good service when they fact check traditional media.

Oh yeah, given that you make some fairly sweeping self congratulatory claims about the Left, ph(J)oanie can you give an example as powerful as what the right did fact checking CBS and holding them accountable? We'll pause as you scurry away to Media Matters....which I also read as I do Newsbusters.org to get 'both' sides of media bias. Novel concept, you should try it.
WARNING: it may challange preconceived beliefs held by loyal 'Sister Randi' and 'Brother Rush' types that love a host which tells 'em how smart they are to get 'the word' OR for those unwilling to look at both sides of an issue it may cause a level of cognitive dissonance that can only be remedied by denial/obsfucation there 'jumpin joanie.'

KVI am 570 KHz Visit the burnt-out husk of one of the seminal right-wing talkers in all the land. Here's where once trilled the reactionary tones of Rush Limbaugh, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Mike Siegel, Peter Weissbach, Floyd Brown, Dinky Donkey, and Bryan Suits.
Now it's Top 40 hits from the '60's & '70's aimed at that diminishing crowd who still remembers them and can still hear.

KTTH am 770 KHzRight wing home of local, and a whole bunch of syndicated righties such as Glennn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larsony, and for an hour a day: live & local David Boze.